Governor Joseph Wanton
(1705-1780)
The Gaspee
Days
Committee at www.gaspee.COM
is a civic-minded nonprofit organization that operates many community
events
in and around Pawtuxet Village, including the famous Gaspee Days Parade
each June. These events are all designed to commemorate the 1772
burning of
the hated British revenue schooner, HMS Gaspee, by Rhode Island
patriots as America's 'First Blow for Freedom' TM.
Our
historical research center, the Gaspee Virtual Archives at www.gaspee.ORG
, has presented these research notes as an attempt to gather further
information
on one who has been suspected of being associated with the the burning
of the Gaspee. Please e-mail your comments or further
questions
to webmaster@gaspee.org.

Governor Joseph Wanton was born
in
Newport,
RI on August 15, 1705 and was the son of a wealthy merchant William
Wanton
who served as Rhode Island Governor under the Royal Charter in
1732-1733.
William was the son of Edward Wanton, who emigrated from London to
Boston
about the year 1658. William's brother, John Wanton, was likewise a
successful
Newport merchant and succeeded him as Governor from 1734 through
1740.
Williams cousin, Gideon, yet another Newport merchant, was Governor of
the colony in 1745 and 1747.

William Wanton was raised a Quaker and his mother, Ruth
Bryant, a
Presbyterian. To make peace, they both converted into Anglican
church, and raised their children in the Church of England. According
to Elmer E. CornellAA, this
fact may have
influenced Wanton to be perceived as more loyalist than many of his
fellow Rhode Islanders who were predominantly Baptists and
Congregationalists.

The
Joseph Wanton of our concern was born on August 15, 1705, the
son
of Governor William Wanton. He graduated from Harvard in 1751 and
then, following his family interests, he also became a successful
merchant
of the area. We note that he was part owner of the privateer
ships, Charming Betty,
and Scorpion, during
the French and
Indian war, and Joseph Wanton was the master aboard the King of Prussia, a privateer during
the this time that was captured by the French in 1758 with
a cargo gold dust, rum, and 54 slavesAB.
Many such privateers out of Newport were actually running in the slave
trade. His image was captured in 1755 by John Greenwood in his famous
painting "Sea Captains Carousing in Surinam"--the oringinal of "Dogs
Playing Poker" genre. Surinam
(Suriname) was a Dutch colony on the North coast of South America known
for its slave plantations. It was a predominant trading destination for
Rhode Island merchants during the 18th century who exchanged lumber,
horses, rum, and African slaves for sugar, coffee, and cocoa in what is
known as the Triangular Trade.

Right: Detail inset from Sea Captains Carousing in Surinam by John Greenwood
(1727-1792) courtesy St. Louis Art Museum. Left
to right at table: Nicholas Cooke,
Esek Hopkins, Stephen Hopkins, and
Joseph Wanton (being doused with punch and vomit). Note that Wanton is
bald when not wearing his powdered wig. Click to view entire image.

His family connections assisted in his rapid rise in
the public service ranks, and he was elected Lieutenant-Governor of
Rhode
Island in 1764 and 1767 under his friend, Governor Stephen
Hopkins. In May of 1769, Joseph Wanton was chosen
as successor of Governor Josias Lyndon. Wanton was not above nepotism,
and quickly appointed his son, William, to the patronage job of 'naval
officer', in charge of provincial customs record keepingA1.

During his term in office, Wanton
encountered
the whole Gaspee Affair beginning in May of 1772. Dep. Gov. Darius
Sessions petitioned the Governor to intercede on the behalf of the
merchants and sea traders who were being continuously harrassed by Lt.
Dudingston and the Gaspee.
Wanton wrote to Dudingston demanding to see his commission, but
Dudingston refused and referred the matter to his superior, Admiral
Montagu. This led to a series of insulting and threatening
letters between Wanton and Montagu over their respective authorities
within the Colony of Rhode Island. Montagu at one point
threatened to "hang as pirates" any citizens of Newport attempting to
interfere with the Gaspee's
mission.

Once the Gaspee
had been attacked and burned in June of 1772, Wanton took certain
measures to protect the Colony of Rhode Island from the impending wrath
of the British government. By promptly offering a reward for
information regarding the Gaspee attackers, he demonstrated that the
Colony treated the matter seriously, at least on paper. The British had automatically assumed the incident
occurred in Newport harbor.

Offended
by this unwarranted presumption, Governor Wanton penned a hasty letter
to Lord Dartmouth in which he assured the angry minister that the event
took place "at least 30 miles off and none of the Newport people could
have had any hand in it." What he did not say was that the
Newport mob stood ready to support its Providence counterparts had it
been necessary.1

Governor
Wanton was
appointed chairman of the special commission of inquiry set up by the
British
government to discover and bring to justice those persons who attacked
and burned the British revenue schooner, HMS Gaspee, in 1772. It
is clear, in retrospect, that Wanton desired to mitigate any damages to
Rhode Island arising from the affair. While his goal was not
likely
one of seeking independence from the mother nation, he most probably
desired
to protect the Rhode Island Charter from being rescinded by London. By
demanding that he be appointed chairman of the Commission, Wanton
positioned
himself to be able to limit the effectiveness of the inquiry by putting
his spin on any evidence presented. While no proof of collusion
can
be had, it is quite likely that Wanton conspired with his Deputy
Governor
Darius Sessions to provide creative counter-testimony to the actual
facts
of the case.

There is little room to doubt but that Gov.
Wanton
and the
officers of the colony would have been satisfied that the authors of
the
mischief should remain undiscovered; although their duty as officers,
and
their interests required them to exhibit a great zeal and loyalty on
the
occasion.4

Deasy writes in a similar note in his Introduction
to the 1990 republication of Documentary History of the Destruction
of the Gaspee (p. xxxix):

Although it is unlikely that his business
connections with
the Browns compromised his judicial integrity, nonetheless Wanton
simply
did not quite fit into the same category as the other four [commission
judges]. True, when the Revolution came, he sided with the Crown, but
even
this choice has been recently somewhat qualified.[Elmer E. Comwell,
"The
Ordeal of Governor Joseph Wanton," Rhode Islander (Providence
Sunday
Journal magazine), June 9, 1974, pp. 32-39] It might not, however,
"be doing great injustice to the memories and the character" of the
commissioners
to suggest, as Stiles did, that the inquiry was hardly to their liking
and they "were inclined to interpret it in the mildest sense."[Stiles, Diary,
I. 349]4

Governor Wanton was able to create yet more disruption for the Gaspee
commission
by revealing to the General Assembly the contents of a letter written
to
him by Lord Dartmouth discussing the British intent to have the
perpertrators
of the Gaspee attack tried in London and publicly executed for
'high
treason'. Deasy explains, "Dartmouth was indignant over the public
disclosure
of this letter, which presumably revealed the real basis of Crown
policy.
It is not clear that the charge of treason dramatically changed the
nature
of colonial resistance to the inquiry, but it certainly put it into a
very
different context." Documentary
History of the Destruction of the Gaspee (1990 ed, p. xl).4

Joseph Wanton was annually re-elected Governor through May,
1775. By
this time, however, the mood of the General Assembly had changed to
favor
independence from the Mother Country, and in 1775 the Assembly passed a
resolution calling for an Army of Observation to be raised "to repel
any
insult or violence that may be offered to the inhabitants; and also, if
it be necessary, for the safety and preservation of any of the
colonies,
to march out of this colony, and join and cooperate with the force of
tlie
neighboring colonies." Wanton feared such a bold and insolent
move,
and he objected strongly to the passage of the resolution, which was
ultimately
passed over his objections. Catherine Williams in Biography of
Revolutionary
Heroes: Containing the Life of Brigadier Gen. William Barton and also
of
Captain Stephen Olney. Providence, Published by the author, 1839,
p154 states

..... he very politely,
but
firmly declined the honor of putting his name to a paper (which might
hang him,) which his conscience could not approve, and renewed his
protestations that he had been perfectly willing to go with his
suffering brethren in remonstrance, appeal and petition, to redress
their grievances, while that alone was resorted to, but he was not
prepared for an appeal to arms, and should not, by his name, sanction
any such unlawful and rebellions proceedings.5

Left: RI Colonial Seal c1763

Subsequently, Wanton was punished for
not appearing to take his oath of office as the figurehead commander of
this army, by the passage by the General
Assembly of an act preventing him from performing his duties as
Governor.
Wanton appeared in June, and demanded that the oath of office should be
administered to him, but, as he had not given satisfaction to the
Assembly,
his request or demand was not complied with. The office of
Governor
was declared vacant for the time being and he was deposed from office
in
November 1775. As Cornell states "Those
bent on revolution are not tolerant of dissent, and Wanton paid the
price."AA According to
historian George Washington Greene, "With the burning of the Gaspee the sword was drawn, with
the deposition of Governor Wanton the scabbard was thrown away."
Read more about these aspects by Don D'Amato in: Warwick Beacon - A Glimpse of Rhode
Island's Past: A governor is deposed in 1775
Nicholas
Cooke (who is pictured drunk at the Surinam bar with his friend Wanton
c1755) was
appointed as Wanton's successor
to become Governor, and served until 1778. Mr. Cooke had become
convinced
that the warlike measures of the Assembly were correct, and entered
heartily
into all their views. The 'Army of Observation' was ultimately
raised
and
consisted of over 1,500 Rhode Island men, later led by Nathanael Greene.

Right: Governor Wanton's
house (c1741, 1756) located at 54 Washington Street in Newport, was known after the Revolutionary War as
the Hunter House, In 1945 it was the first house protected by the Preservation
Society of Newport and is now a museum. Photo by Wally Gobetz.

Wanton continued to live in Newport, albeit, in relative
obscurity.
He at one time fled to the safety of the Capt. Wallace's flagship, HMS Rose from where he refused to
recognize the legitamacy of the coup that deposed him as Governor.
While the British occupied Newport in December 1776 through October
1779
not much else was heard from him, although he apparently did have
success in
marrying off some of his daughters to various Britishers. Mohr
states
that,

Whatever may have been the real feeling which
he
favored for
the English government, he committed no act which was followed by the
confiscation
of his estate. When the British evacuated the town, and the Americans
returned
to its possession, he remained without being molested during the brief
period which elapsed before his death...3

According to Don D'AmatoA2, the victorious
Americans did, however, take away his estate. But there is also
considerable confusion between (and intermixing) of the histories of
Governor Joseph Wanton and his son, Joseph Wanton, Jr. by many
historians, and Joseph Wanton, Jrs' house in Newport was indeed
confiscated. Governor Joseph Wanton
died in Newport in 1780 and is buried in
the Clifton Buring Ground.

Governor Wanton's wife was Mary, daughter of John Still
Winthrop, of New London. CT, by whom he had three sons and five
daughters. Mary was the great-granddaughter of Connecticut
Colonial Governor, John Winthrop, Jr.

1) Joseph, who was for a time a Deputy
Governor of Rhode Island and an ardent loyalist whose property was
confiscated after the Revolution.2) William, was himself Deputy Governor of RI in
1764.
He became
a customs naval officer of RI during his father's term, and later fled
to Nova Scotia and became a
collector of customs at St. Johns. NS.
3) John, who died when a child.
4) Ann, wife of Winthrop Saltonstall, of New London, CT
5) Mary, married Captain John Coddington.
6) Elizabeth, married Thomas Wickham of Newport.
7) Ruth, married William Brown, who was appointed by the British
government
Governor of Bermuda.
8) Catherine, twice married, first to a Mr. Stoddard, and secondly
to Mr. Detileur, a surgeon in the British Army.